The Delhi government Wednesday proposed the name of Hindi novelist Maitreyi Pushpa as the new chief of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) following which incumbent Barkha Singh said she was being "harassed".
Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia said at a press conference that the government has proposed the name of "non-political" Maitreyi Pushpa to Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal told reporters: "All these years the DCW chairman used to be a political person, but now we want to change that. Pushpa is good novelist and literature expert."
Sisodia said that Barkha Singh should have resigned before the new government was formed.
Pushpa (69) is a Hindi fiction writer and has 10 novels and seven short story collections to her credit.
Best known among her works are "Chak", "Alma Kabutari", "Jhoola Nat" and an autobiographical novel "Kasturi Kundal Base".
Soon after the government announced Pushpa's name, current DCW chief Barkha Singh accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of "harassing" her.
Singh said the government took the step after she summoned Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti to explain his controversial campaign against an alleged prostitution racket.
Refusing to step down from the post, she said: "I've still one year and four months left of my tenure and it's a constitutional post. They're doing (this) because I summoned Somnath Bharti. Tomorrow (Thursday), I'm going to meet the Lt. Governor."
Barkha Singh, who lost the Delhi assembly election as a Congress candidate, said there was no need for her to quit even though the Congress government which appointed her has bowed out.
